Cab drivers: ID cards with in-built microchip soon

Come January and all cab drivers in the city would be seen sporting a uniform,either sky-blue or grey.

Come January and all cab drivers in the city would be seen sporting a uniform,either sky-blue or grey. In April,these drivers would also get identity cards from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) that will have an inbuilt microchip and general packet radio service (GPRS) system to track the vehicle.

The decision was taken at a meeting held by State Transport Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil with the cab-operators in the city on Saturday. Another important decision taken at the meeting was that henceforth if a cab driver was found involved in a crime,the permit of the cab owner,too,would be suspended.

Talking to reporters after the meeting,Vikhe-Patil said,The dress code for cab drivers would come into effect from January. There are two colours to choose from sky-blue and grey. For autorickshaw drivers it would be khaki,while for auto-owners it is white.

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We have also decided to provide identity cards to cab drivers,which will have a micro-chip installed in it. It will have GPRS system,which will make it easy for us to track the movement of vehicles, he added. These identity cards would be made available by the RTO on the basis of the police verification.

In order to facilitate the process of procuring badges,it was also decided to consider the domicile certificate of two-year stay in the city as a valid document. This move would not make it mandatory for the cab drivers to produce a proof showing 15 years of residence proof.

Before the meeting,a panel of cab owners led by former MLA Chandrakant Chhajed met the minister and gave him a memorandum of demands. Senior officials from the traffic police and RTO,including DCP Manoj Patil,Chandrakant Kharatmal were present on the occasion.

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